Come Away To The Slaughter
by Ms Gatsby
Summary: It was almost a year to the day since the dark days had ended and the uprising failed. One male and one female from each district is being summoned to the capital at the reaping. But for what, no one knows.


Hi everyone! I wrote this fic last night when I couldn't sleep, its not my best, but I was inspired after rereading the series for the millionth time. I had an idea about the first hunger games, where no one knew exactly what they were or what they were getting into. Let me know if you think I should continue, I have ideas for the rest of the story but I wanted to see if anyone would be interested in reading first. CC is also appreciated.

Thanks for reading!

-Ms Gatsby

* * *

I woke just as the dawn was breaking; I wasn't sure why I was awake so early, maybe subconsciously I was anxious about today's happenings. I kicked my sheets off and got out of bed, I changed into a deep grey shirt, black pants and my boots and headed into the kitchen. I started boiling some water for tea as I looked out the dust covered window of our small kitchen, '_Another day in the paradise that is district 12.'_ I thought to myself sarcastically with a slight smile. Our coal mining district was defiantly not much, but it was home; a home I had dreams of escaping. The rebellion which had ended almost a year ago to the day had stirred something inside of me, something that wanted more than a life as a coal miner's wife, and certainly more than district 12. If there was any light to the rebellion it was that the population was exposed to scenes from other districts, stirring curiosity in even the most subdued citizen of Panem.

The rebellion was the reason today was so important. To mark the first anniversary of the defeat of rebel forces, one male and one female between the ages of 12 and 18 were going to be selected by way of lottery to represent their district at the Capitol, they called it a reaping. Speculation was rife amongst all classes of district 12, from the coal miners at the seam to the merchants in town; rumours were circulating that the children would be taken to the capitol to be trained as diplomats for their districts, a thought that excited many of the families of the children old enough to be selected, a life as a diplomat would be a wealthy one, and one of the only means of escape from the cycle of poverty in district 12.

My gut told me otherwise, _reaping_, that word just did not sit well with me at all, it reminded me of an ancient symbol of death which we learnt about in class, used many generations before Panem's existence, the Grim Reaper. Others had argued with me that it alluded to reaping a field for harvest, but the more I thought about it the more unnerved I became.

"Fia," a small voice behind me interrupted my thoughts, "what are you doing up?" Ronan asked from the doorway as he rubbed his eyes, clearly tired.

"I could ask you the same question." I replied "Come on, let's get you back to bed, you look exhausted."

I led him back to the small room we shared and tucked him into bed, "What are you doing? The sun isn't even up yet silly!" I exclaimed as I gave him a little tickle.

"I heard you wake up," he said innocently "and I'm so excited"

"For what, exactly?"

"Today!" the tone of his voice was slightly annoyed, like I should have guessed it "I heard whoever gets picked will live like a king, just imagine it, we could live in a big house and eat real bread." His voice was filled with excitement, I couldn't burst his bubble. "I hope they pick me."

At this point I decided it was best to end the conversation, "Sleep." I said to him with all the authority I could muster; he smiled as I gave him a kiss on the forehead. As I went to shut the door I turned around and smiled, he was already snoring.

That boy was my world; my everything. Mum said we were like chalk and cheese, it was an old phrase used to describe opposites; and it couldn't have been more true for me and my brother, he had dark brown hair, hazel eyes, and a tan complexion; whilst I had ash blonde hair, piercing blue eyes, and pale skin; even our personalities were moons apart, I was quiet and reserved, but Ronan was loud and could hardly sit still most days. At 12, he was just old enough to be reaped, I prayed to God he didn't get chosen, not because I didn't want good things to come him, but because there was so much uncertainty about what was going to happen, and if my feelings were correct, I'd have no way of protecting him if he was in the Capitol, I couldn't bare that.

Out in the kitchen I found my Father drinking the tea I had set for myself, "Thanks, Sooty." He said teasingly lifting the mug to do a toasting motion in my direction. I gave him a playful shove and laughed. The nickname he gave me was a tribute to my early childhood when I used to run down to the opening of the mine to meet him after work, often ending up rolling around in the dust which came from the mine, leaving me black like soot.

"Working today?" I asked as I sat down and stole some of the food he was eating.

"Nope, the Capitol's giving as all a day off for this reaping thing." He replied, sounding uninterested.

"He's excited about bread." I said after a brief period of silence, motioning to the room I shared Ronan. My father gave me a look of confusion. "He wants to get chosen."

"Well you'd better go get him some," my father replied with a wink, "he's too young to be gallivanting off to the Capitol to do God knows what."

Knowing exactly what he meant I headed to the other side of the room, behind a small bookcase was a hidden annex, I moved the bookcase and false wall and took a few bottles of liquor from our stores. After hiding the annex, I waved the bottles mockingly in front of my father, "Anything in particular you want me to pick up?"

"No, just the necessities; unless you see anything out of the ordinary."

"Gottcha."I said as I headed out the door.

"Fia"I heard after me "Be back by 12, ok? The reaping's at two, and we wouldn't want to get ourselves into trouble with the almighty Capitol now would we." He added throwing his arms up in mock horror. I laughed as I headed out into the early morning.

The streets were quiet, usually at this time the miner's would be heading to work, but the Capitol had banned all production on reaping day in all the districts. However, one place in district 12 would be trading, the Hob had sprung up out of the ashes of the dark days, it was a black market where illegal or hard to come by goods were traded; it was also my destination. I often traded liquor to help subsidise my family's income, despite both my parents working, there was still not enough to go around. Miner's wages were greatly reduced following the uprising as punishment, and my mother was finding it hard to hold down a job permanently because most businesses were only just starting to rebuild, meaning she had to take a few days here, a few days there, whatever she could get. Further punishment for the rebellion meant that certain items were banned or heavily restricted by the Capitol, so the Hob gave the opportunity for many of us to make some extra money or trade for things we needed.

I moved quickly, the less people who saw me the better, extra peacekeepers were around today so I had to be extra careful. I cut through a block of buildings I knew to be abandoned, they were shelled during the dark days and had yet to be repaired. As I came out of the maze of buildings, I spotted the abandoned warehouse, I walked quickly towards it, looking behind every now and then to make sure I wasn't being followed.

Despite its desolate appearance on the outside, the hob was buzzing inside. The first to spot me was one of my regular customers, a peacekeeper named Romonus.

"What have you got for me today?" I asked him, waving a bottle of white liquor in front of his eyes.

"All depends, what do you want from me?" he asked, often I gave him liquor in return for favours, as opposed to goods.

"I want to know what the Capitol want with the District's children." My tone was serious, he could tell I meant business.

"No can do, how do some new knives sound?" he presented a set of knives to me, they were clearly meant to be used as weapons instead of cooking. I shoved them away.

"Why can't you tell me?"

"Because I don't know." He shot back, "No one in the districts know, not us, not even the mayor, all I know is that it can't be good."

"You haven't heard rumours? Anything?"

"No different then what you've heard."

I was taken aback by this; usually peacekeepers could source information from the Capitol easy enough, I was especially worried now.

"I'll give you a chicken," he held up a canvas bag as he sighed, "I'm desperate."

I set the liquor down beside him and he handed me the chicken.

"Nice doing business with you." I said with a smirk. I turned to continue trading, I didn't have the luxury of time.

"You know how to use these, right?" I stopped at the sound of his words to see him holding up the canvas containing the knives and his head beckoning me back to him. I quickly walked back to his side, he pulled me in close, as if he didn't want anyone to hear. "Well?"

I nodded, I was confused, why would a peacekeeper care if I could throw a knife or two?

"Compliments of the Capitol." He whispered so low only I could hear as he shoved the knives into my arms.

I didn't question him, I simply walk away; my mind was spinning, I was more confused than ever. I quickly gathered everything else I needed and headed to the baker's. I went to the back door and knocked 3 times. Mr. Lombrad greeted me at the door, checking that there was no one watching, he handed me three loaves of fresh bread and in return I gave him a bottle of liquor, and without a word he shut the door and I was on my way home.

When I arrived home, Ronan was outside tending to the small herb garden with our mother. I waved the bread at him and quickened my pace to a run as I headed inside, he quickly chased after me laughing. I threw my days takings onto the table as he caught up to me.

"Who says you need to go to the Capitol to get bread!" I exclaimed tickling him.

"But how, Fia?" he asked

"I'm magic." I replied as I handed the bread to my mother to prepare lunch. I then grabbed the knives and started towards the back door.

"Where are you going?" my mother asked, a hint of concern in her voice.

"Just out the back, no where special." I replied

"Be careful, you know today's a big day"

I sighed as I shut the door behind me; everybody was so excited about today. I found a thick tree and carved an X into it, I stood back around 20 meters, picked up a knife and threw it at the X, I missed. I did this time and time again, missing each time, but getting closer none the less. I was getting frustrated, when with the last knife, I finally hit my target. I wasn't good at knife throwing by any means, but it was a start. I ran to the tree to collect the knives when I heard my father behind me.

"Off to murder someone are we?" he asked clearly confused as to why I had a set of knives.

"Romonus gave them to me, strange don't you think?"

"Very." He wondered "You mother wants you to start getting ready, lunch is out whenever you want it."

I nodded as I collected the last of my knives, and headed inside with him. After a quick lunch of bread and chicken I scrubbed myself clean and put on a purple dress my mother had laid out for me. I sighed as I looked it up and down; I was not a dress girl, I couldn't even remember the last time I had worn a dress. The Capitol insisted we dress up, after all, two of us were going to be broadcast to Panem's entire population; we had to look our best.

"Well, stop staring at it and hurry up and put it on, we don't want to be late." My mother ordered from the doorway. She walked over to me and helped me into the dress, knowing it would speed up the process since I was somewhat accident prone. She then started working on my hair, it fell just below my shoulders but it was thick. She put it into a bun and turned me around.

"Perfect." she said as she kissed me on the head and walked out. I looked myself up and down in the mirror. I wasn't the prettiest thing in the world, nowhere near it; but today I didn't care, I wasn't anxious about my looks today, I was anxious about what lie ahead for the children of Pamen who were selected at the reaping. I silently thanked God that I was 18, and that this would be my one and only reaping.

I met my parents and brother in the kitchen, Ronan was wearing a white button down shirt with black pants.

"You two look amazing." Said my father, the pride in his voice obvious as he stepped back to get a look at us together.

"They sure do." My mother agreed, "Come on, let's make a move." She added as she moved towards the front door.

"We're not going to be late are we?" Ronan asked with concern in his voice.

"Not if we leave now."

"Then let's go"

We laughed as he ran out the door, my parents followed behind him. I turned around to get one last look of the house, for all I knew; I might never see it again. After taking it in, I shut the door slowly, letting my hand linger on the doorknob. I shook my head to pull myself together, pushing my fears to the back of my mind I caught up to my parents and headed to the reaping, where two fates would be decided.


End file.
